A folding machine having two pockets enables a document to be folded in three by forming two successive folds. In order to form a fold, each pocket co-operates with three rollers. Each pocket has the shape of a flat housing including an abutment at one end and orifice at the opposite end. Two first rollers enable the document to be inserted into and advanced through the orifice of the pocket. The document comes up against the abutment, while the advance which continues to be communicated to the document causes a buckle to be formed therein, which buckle projects from the orifice of the pocket. This buckle is engaged and nipped between two rollers which thereby make the desired fold and then eject the document out of the pocket, via the same orifice.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,101 describes a first folding machine including two pockets disposed in a truncated V layout and associated with a set of four rollers, one of which is used for both pockets. That folding machine comprises two hinged portions: a "top" portion and a "bottom" portion. A "top" pocket is situated in the top portion and a "bottom" pocket is situated in the bottom portion.
Jamming may occur, in particular when a plurality of different-sized documents are to be folded simultaneously. The user must have access to each pocket so as to clear any jamming. In order to facilitate access, each pocket includes a fixed plate and a moving plate. These two plates are coupled together by a hinge axis situated at one end of the pocket. When the two portions of the machine are closed, the moving plate and the fixed plate are parallel in each pocket. That first folding machine includes a set of four rollers which cannot be disassembled when the folding machine is open. The set of rollers remains close to the orifice of the bottom pocket.
The hinge axis of the bottom pocket is situated near to the orifice of the pocket, close to the set of rollers. The bottom pocket thus opens at its other end, close to the hinge of the machine. User access is therefore from the least convenient direction. The user must lift the moving plate with one hand and pass the other hand around the set of four rollers and the moving plate in order to clear a document jammed in the pocket. In that first known folding machine, each pocket has an abutment whose position may not be adjusted.
European Patent Application No. 0,352,694 describes a second folding machine also including two pockets disposed in a truncated V layout and associated with a set of four rollers, one of which is used for both pockets. That machine is also composed of two hinged portions, but the four rollers may be disassembled when the two portions are open. Each of the pockets has a fixed plate and a moving plate coupled together by a hinge axis.
In that second folding machine, the hinge axis of the bottom pocket is situated at its end that is distant from its end having the orifice. The bottom pocket therefore opens close to the rollers. Access for the user is therefore from the most convenient direction. Unfortunately, access from this direction is hindered by the presence of the rollers. Two of the four rollers are fixed to the bottom portion. The other two rollers are fixed to the top portion. They retract when the folding machine is open, thereby reducing the hindrance caused by the rollers, but not removing it altogether.
When the two portions are open, a cable fixed to the bottom portion pulls the moving plate of the top pocket so as to open it, and a cable fixed to the top portion pulls the moving plate of the bottom pocket so as to open it. Each pocket is thus opened in a wedge shape to an angle of about 30.degree., the extent of pivoting of the moving plate being limited by surrounding obstacles. A user may therefore clear a jam by hand, by removing a document stuck in either of the pockets. The user may also adjust the abutments defining the positions of the folds to be made in the document.
Those two known folding machines both suffer from the drawback of having quite difficult access to the bottom of each pocket, close to its hinge axis, because the distance between the fixed plate and the moving plate decreases going towards the hinge axis. In the second known folding machine, access to the bottom pocket is hindered by the presence of one of the rollers, and it is difficult to remedy this by increasing the pivot angle of the moving plate of the bottom pocket, because the travel of the moving plate is limited by the space occupied by adjacent parts.
An object of the invention is to provide a two-pocket folding machine offering better access into both pockets, and in particular the bottom pocket.